Football: Iowa State offensive woes continue in loss at TCU

Saturday

FORT WORTH, Texas — Any stat sheet that was printed will officially show that TCU beat Iowa State on a field goal with less than a minute to play.

ISU lost the game though, unofficially, almost a half hour of game action earlier.

A nice kickoff return to open the third quarter set ISU up with favorable field position against a stingy TCU defense that had only just allowed the Cyclones to surpass 100 yards.

On second down and a manageable distance, quarterback Zeb Noland opted to drop back and felt a pass rush. The ball, held away from his body, was knocked loose. Ben Banogu scooped it up and ran 47 yards for the score, effectively creating the biggest play of the night.

TCU’s 17-14 win and the role ISU’s offense played in it wasn’t the only story of the night, but in the end, it was the one that mattered most.

“It was an RPO and he had a shot down the field,” ISU coach Matt Campbell said. “I think the ball just slipped out of his hands. It was one of those situations where it’s inches.”

ISU (1-3, 0-2) again played well enough defensively to win. A 3-1 favorable turnover margin should be enough to win most games. Other than healthy doses of David Montgomery, who was injured in the fourth quarter, and one drive in the second half, the offense sputtered.

TCU, admittedly, is one of the top defenses in the Big 12. Tallying only 107 yards of offense through three quarters, going 5 of 12 on third down, holding an 11-minute disadvantage in time of possession and running just 56 offensive plays won’t work most nights.

“Things happen in a game sometimes,” Noland, who was 14 of 28 passing for 79 yards and a touchdown, said of his turnover. “We’ve just got to bounce back and let it go and keep working.

“We’ve just got to execute better. Third down again. I take all the credit for that. I missed a couple throws that I’ve gotta be better on. Just gotta keep getting better each day.”

Montgomery looked the way people have grown used to see him play, rushing 21 times for 101 yards and a touchdown — one of two red zone scores. The passing game, though, was rendered ineffective and spotty at best.

Hakeem Butler had just two catches for 14 yards while Deshaunte Jones led all ISU receivers with three catches for 23 yards. Noland was sacked twice and hurried just once, but TCU’s (3-2, 1-1) ability to create pressure while dropping back in coverage stymied most offensive looks.

“It’s just a part of the game,” Butler said. You can’t really get frustrated or it’ll take you out of your game. You just have to focus on the play, focus on the play call and now focus on the next game.

“I know me, I know these coaches, I know these players, I know everybody in that locker room. I know we have the best coaches in the country and the best players. I know we’ll be OK.”

Where TCU has been vulnerable at times is when it makes mistakes and gives opponents short fields — as evidenced in its loss at Texas last week. ISU took full advantage of that in the second quarter through a couple big plays from youngsters.

True freshman Will McDonald, in his second career game, hit the edge on a pass rush and sacked TCU quarterback Shawn Robinson — who left the game late in the fourth quarter due to injury — and jarred the ball loose.

The fumble was knocked and kicked 17 yards down the field toward the end zone when JaQuan Bailey jumped on it. ISU ran three plays afterward, the last of which was a three-yard touchdown pass from Noland to tight end Charlie Kolar — his first career catch.

Most of the woes ISU has experienced offensively, Campbell said, have come from an inability to establish a rhythm. The Cyclones might not see the caliber of defense of the Horned Frogs again this season, but the offense has to grow up, and quick, if it wants to go toe to toe with some of the more offensive centric squads in the conference.

“It was hard first half to find a flow offensively because you didn’t have the ball very much,” Campbell said. “The numbers tonight are a little misleading due to that, but again I’m not too concerned. I saw us run the football when we haven’t done that here in a long time. I saw Zeb step up and make some good plays.

“I’m not super concerned about it. I think we’ll only continue to grow and get better.”

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